Teach Us to Number Our Days

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January 2, 2011

MAKING THE MOST OF OUR TIME

NUMBERING OUR DAYS

What does it take to live a rich life? Money? Success? A degree from

a prestigious university?

Every time we attend a funeral service, if we’re smart we learn a

lesson of a lifetime.

On that single day, we are brought face to face with the reality thatthe value of our financial portfolios and the size of our checking

accounts are not nearly as important as the value of precious humanlives.

According to God’s Word, a wealthy life has to do with recognizingour dependence on an everlasting and ever-present God.

Its making our lives count in a world that is prone to disaster and

disappointment.

In the only psalm that Moses wrote, we read these words…

Psalm 90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all

generations. 2Before the mountains were born or you brought forththe earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are

God.

9All our days pass away; we finish our years with a moan. 10Thelength of our days is seventy years - or eighty, if we have the

strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, and they quickly

pass and we fly away…12Teach us to number our days that wemight gain a heart of wisdom.

If a truly wealthy life consists in following Moses’ advice, just whatdoes it mean to number our days? Let’s see if we can discover that

together.

A couple of years ago, Jeff Foxworthy had a TV program, “Are You

Smarter Than A 5th Grader?”

Let’s see if you are smarter than a 5 th grader. I want to give you a

series of historical dates. You tell me what happened on thesedates…

When I mention a specific date in history, call out what that day

signifies. Let’s see how well you do.

July 4, 1776

December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor) November 22, 1963 (JFK assassinated)

July 20, 1969 (Neil Armstrong steps on the surface of the moon)

September 11, 2001 (Need I say more?)

History has a way of numbering the significant days of our lives sothat their impact is simply recalled by their numerical date.

911 will never again be just an emergency phone number. All

someone needs to say is 9/11 and we know what they are referring

to.

That day will forever be a day etched in history. Four flights left theEast Coast headed for the West Coast. Not one person aboard any of

those flights survived.

Families lost fathers, mothers, and children. Co-workers and friends

were suddenly gone, buried amid the rubble.

Hours earlier breakfasts had been eaten, spouses kissed, childrenhugged and homes left for the last time.

Who could have known it would all end—in just a moment?

All these years later all you need to do is say 9/11 and we are there

once again.



That’s one way to number a day. But is that what Moses had inmind? I don’t think so.

Maybe it’s the way Tom Hanks marked his days on that desertedisland in the movie Cast Away. Do you remember? He made little

marks on the cave for the four years he was there.

No, I don’t think that’s what Moses meant for us to do either.

Read with me again Psalm 90:12 this time from the NLT: Lord,teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in

wisdom.

That’s what it means to number our days. Keep in mind how brief

our lives are. We would do well to measure them and make them

count.

The Apostle Paul says it in another way in Ephesians 5: 15-16 So becareful how you live, not as fools, but as those who are wise. Make

the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days…

That passage reminds me of a popular saying from back in the

seventies. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” It’s true,isn’t it? And the implied response is “seize the day!”

Grab hold of each day and don’t let it slip through your fingers.

Those folks in the planes and in the World Trade Center didn’t plan

on dying that day, yet they did.

Those first responders who went up the stairwells of both towers toevacuate people and never came out didn’t expect they’d never see

their family members again.

And you and I have no guarantee that our lives will not end just as

abruptly someday.

Bill Keane is the creator of a comic strip called Family Circus. One

of them has this classic caption. “Yesterday is the past. Tomorrow isthe future. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called ‘the present’.”

Unfortunately, for many of us, it’s a present we often leaveunwrapped.

“Lord, teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow

in wisdom.”

Did you notice in both Moses’ and Paul’s statement that wisdom is

connected with making the most of each day?

A wise person begins each day with a sense of the preciousness of

life. He is proactive and purposeful.

No wonder we are called to measure each day and use it wisely.

DOING THE MATH

Not everybody is mathematically inclined. In fact there are a few of

us who have to use a calculator to do the simplest math.

If we don’t have a calculator handy, we have to call the homework

hotline.

But, here’s a mathematical equation that anybody can use in

crunching numbers the way God intends.

1. ADDITION

Each day add up your blessings. Make a tally of what you have to begrateful for. Realize that each new day is from the Lord.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice

and be glad in it .

Also, start and end the day with a thankful attitude.

Psalm 92:1-2 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises

to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the

morning, your faithfulness in the evening.



Every morning tell the Lord, “Thank you for Your kindness,' andevery evening rejoice in His faithfulness.”

Gratitude is an attitude and can become a lifestyle. It is a practicalway to number our days and make the most of our time.

2. SUBTRACTION

Subtract your fears. What I mean by that is this: get rid of what you

don’t need to hang on to.

The past is the past. It can’t be changed. We can’t rewrite history.Remember, certainly...but live your life in fear...NEVER.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity,

but of power…

A lot of people spend more time fearing the future because of the past than they do focusing on the Lord as their source of help andsecurity.

When we subtract our fears we will be more apt to number our daysand make the most of the time God gives us.

3. DIVISION

Galatians 6:2 Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this

way obey the law of Christ.

Divide your sorrows. Quit grieving alone for the sources of sadness

that have come into your life.

There’s an old Swedish proverb that says “a shared sorrow is half a sorrow.”

Divide your sorrows. Share them. You’ll be surprised how muchmore of today you will live once you link your life with another.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one because they have a

good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will

lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

4. MULTIPLICATION

Luke 6:37 If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more,and running over.

To really number your days, multiply God’s grace by sharing whatyou have with someone who doesn’t. (Materially and spiritually)

When we give away some of the blessings that we’ve taken the time

to add up, something wonderful happens, the blessings multiply.

The other part of that Swedish proverb says: “A shared joy is adoubled joy.”

We will make the most of our time if we take the time to give away

what we have…and that definitely includes our faith.

By adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying we will

certainly make our days count more than they typically do.

As both Moses and Paul have indicated, you can’t be wise without

numbering your days...i.e. making the most of your days.

How do we make the most of our days in the time we live in?

We live in an imperfect and fallen world. Evil will continue to be a

part of our lives. Psalm 90 is quite up front about that.

Psalm 90:10 Seventy years are given to us! Some may even reacheighty. But even the best of these years are filled with pain and

trouble; soon they disappear, and we are gone.



In spite of this candid statement that life is filled with pain andtrouble and soon we die...

Moses remains confident in a God who is everlasting and ever faithful. Back in verse two of Psalm 90…

From everlasting to everlasting you are God.

For Moses trusting God a day at a time is definitely part of the

equation required in numbering our days. It was for Todd Beamer

and his wife Lisa also.

Prior to September 11th, no one knew the name Todd Beamer. Sincethen his name has become synonymous with heroism and faith.

We learned from his wife that in the final moments of his life Toddacknowledged his dependence on God by calling out to Him in prayer, a

practice that for him was as natural as drawing a breath.

Todd’s mother had taught him the Lord’s Prayer when he was just atoddler. His home group was in the midst of a study of the Lord’s Prayer.

He even had a bookmark with the Lord’s Prayer on it in the current novel

he was reading.

What about Lisa Beamer? Listen to this excerpt from her book Let’s Roll :

“For days I would struggle to deal with the shock. And yet, in that

dark moment of my soul, I first cried out to God. I knew without adoubt that my hope wasn’t based on Todd or any other human

being. Nor was it based even on life itself, when I got right downto it. My faith wasn’t rooted in governments, religion, tall

buildings, or frail people. Instead, my faith and my security werein God.”

Did Todd Beamer know how to number his days? Does Lisa Beamer? Ithink we all know the answer to those questions.

Our God is the one who can turn ashes into beauty. He is the one who can

offer hope to the hopeless.

APPLICATION

If you have already trusted Christ for your eternal life…

Then trust Christ for your daily life also and live to please Him. Makeeveryday of this life count for Him.

In the movie Something’s Gotta Give Harry and Erica played by Jack

Nicholson and Diane Keaton walk down the beach together as part of Harry's rehabilitation after he suffers a heart attack.

Harry tells Erica that there are over 8,000 websites that mention her. She isflattered, but assumes that he is exaggerating. She tells him that she lookedhim up on the Internet also. Erica says:

"I know you grew up in L.A., which I thought nobody did. You startedyour own record label at twenty-nine. Very Impressive. Sold it at forty.

Even more impressive. Then you started a magazine, dabbled in theInternet, and then you invested in a small record company which you

turned into the second-largest hip-hop label in the world!"

Harry replies that he is exhausted just listening to her recite his life back tohim. She agrees, and says, "The truth is, it goes by fast, doesn't it?"

He looks up and says, "In the blink of an eye."

No matter how many accomplishments we rack up, the truth is that whenwe approach our twilight years we will look back and wonder where all thetime has gone.

It doesn't matter if we are thirty, forty, or ninety, the feeling is the same. Iimagine that Methuselah, at the end of his life, still said, "Is this it?"

Life rolls out too rapidly. One moment it is brand new, the next moment itis spent.

The reason we feel this way is because no matter how many years aregranted to us, because we were meant to live forever it is simply too short.

This is why in a fallen world we must redeem our time -- there is alwaystoo little of it.

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Teach Us to Number Our Days